IN FOCUS: Making the Modern Realtor What clients expect from a professional today

Real estate professionals may feel they are trapped in a Top Gun movie, as clients looking to buy properties and close mortgage deals feel the need for speed.

“Buyers are more educated; they’re educated by the Internet, they’re educated by friends and family,” says Andrew Libby, one of the owners of Modern Realty NB Inc. in Moncton, N.B. “Expectations are much higher than they were 10 or 20 years ago.”

Those expectations from clients include that a real estate agent be prompt in replies, honest and unbiased in the recommendation of properties, adds Libby. And it doesn’t stop there.

“They expect you to be knowledgeable in all the different elements that go into a real estate transaction,” he says. “For instance, a home inspection, insurance, mortgages… and from what I’ve seen, they expect this to all be done quickly.”

Libby has worn many hats during his lifetime, both in the mortgage and insurance sectors, and it is that breadth of knowledge that has helped him in the realty field.
“Especially from the mortgage side,” he says. “We’re seeing more and more buyers that will call a real estate professional to go see a property, and the real estate professionals are pushing back, asking ‘Have you been pre-approved?’”

To the buyer, it comes across as the real estate professional only wanting to spend time with a buyer who has been to the bank, says Libby.

“I can understand the real estate professional is valuing their time,” he says, “but going to a single bank versus dealing with a single mortgage broker, doesn’t mean that what the bank is telling you is correct.”

Owning an independent mortgage brokering company for the last decade has provided Libby with that unique perspective.

“When I sit across from a first-time homebuyer, and I go through their credit application, review their credit bureau, review their income, review their down payment,” says Libby, “there is some sense of reassurance that if I do all that up front, there’s a level of trust and understanding that I wouldn’t be spending time with them wearing my professional real estate hat viewing properties if I didn’t think they would get approved.”

CREW

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